Every so often, I get a letter from some irate church member who demands to know why The Effective Church Group charges for our services. This morning, I got this note from a Church Elder in North Carolina who responded to a Facebook ad we ran for the Get More Visitors Checklist (a free […]
Let me start out by being totally clear. A Bible study in and of itself is not a life transforming activity. The church is filled with spiritually immature members who are the products of many years of “Bible studies,” Sunday school classes, and discussion groups. Most Bible studies are data dumps of information that fills […]
Every week, thousands of pastors spend hours and hours creating a sermonic masterpiece that will be heard once by fewer than 60 people.
Every week, tens of thousands of Sunday school classes will meet to educate and ostensibly disciple less than a dozen people.
The same goes for Bible studies, small group studies, and so on.
All […]
Planned giving—you’ve likely heard of it before, but if you’re like many church leaders, administrators, and fundraisers, you haven’t considered trying it out yet.
This is a transformational church fundraising method that can deepen your relationships with congregants and ensure your church’s long-term financial stability. But is planned giving, also often called legacy giving, the […]
As we usher in the 2024 New Year, it’s not just about flipping the calendar page; it’s about reassessing our paths and priorities – cutting through both ministry and life’s clutter. For us pastors and church leaders, this introspection is more than a ritual—it’s a necessity. We’re not just managing organizations; we’re nurturing communities […]
For as long as I can remember, most leaders consciously or unconsciously focused on receiving new members. Ask most pastors what size their church is, and most of them will tell you how many members they have. Low-commitment membership has been the emphasis for some time. In many cases people are hounded until they […]
Background to Dialogue
The following paper by Doris Lax and response by Tom Bandy were part of the presentations to the annual meeting of the North American Paul Tillich Society in November 2000. This society is one of the largest and most diverse academic societies associated with the American Academy of Religion.
Doris Lax is a […]
The Apostolic Movement in the Emerging World
by Bill Easum
The word “Apostolic” or “Apostle” has been used many ways over the centuries. Some think it refers only to those few disciples who had been with Jesus plus Paul. Others see no reason to conclude that the role of Apostle came to an end with the […]
Back in the mid-1980s, while I was an undergraduate at Florida Baptist College, my professor, Dr. LeRoy Benefield, shared insights that have stayed with me to this day. He recounted a statement from Billy Graham, who estimated that only about 10% of active church members were faithful, practicing disciples of Jesus Christ. This revelation […]
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